Graphic from Last Best Chance

By Karen Peterson

The specter of a "dirty bomb" – nuclear, chemical or biological – causing death and havoc among an unsuspecting American populace is not just the stuff of "24," the hit Fox series. The threat is real and growing daily, believe many in the government and civilian sectors.

Most notable among those concerned the worst could happen are members of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization co-chaired by CNN founder Ted Turner and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, and counting Warren Buffett as advisor to its board of directors.

As far as NTI is concerned, "the gravest danger in the world today is the threat from nuclear weapons," and terrorist are the "likeliest" users of these weapons of fear.

The NTI wants Washington to appoint a high-level official, reporting directly to the President, to coordinate and accelerate cooperative work around the globe to prevent terrorists from acquiring these weapons of destruction. They say the most effective, least expensive way to do this is to secure nuclear weapons and materials at the source.

The sources for these materials are mostly found in the United States and Russia, though NTI says there are hundreds of facilities in dozens of countries around the world where the bomb-making ingredients can be found.

NTI is urging "accelerated" efforts to encourage Russia to "rapidly" provide security upgrades to what the NTI calls that nation's "inadequately secured nuclear weapons and materials." According to NTI, less than 50 percent of Russia's nuclear materials have received cooperative, U.S.-funded "rapid" security upgrades or more comprehensive upgrades. NTI also notes that while the Bush Administration says it will accelerate this work, "at the rate achieved in fiscal year 2004, it would take 18 years to complete this work."

NTI also supports the acceleration and expansion of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, which established a global cleanout program to remove nuclear materials – highly enriched uranium and plutonium – entirely from the world's most insecure sites and improve security for nuclear materials around the world.

In the meantime, NTI is actively encouraging public education and participation in its efforts through the Last Best Chance Web site and the new docudrama of the same name being offered free of charge through the site.

The "Last Best Chance" film depicts al Qaeda operatives building three crude nuclear weapons. Although governments around the world discover clues to the plot, they are unable to uncover the scheme before the weapons are en route to their destinations.

The film, starring Fred Thompson, a former U.S. senator who plays District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's "Law & Order" series, includes an epilogue narrated by Tom Brokaw.

The point of the film, says NTI: That gaining control of dirty-bomb materials isn't easy – but if the materials are available, as they are today, someone with deadly intent will figure out how to do it.